Playing with Silicone and Tea Tree Oil Soap

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Amanda

It seems like I haven’t blogged in forever! The last month was absolutely, crazy, insanely busy. I was out of town several weekends. First to Haiti to check on the progress of OFEDA. They are doing remarkably well and were making all kinds of soap. (More on that later.) We are still raising funds for the next trip which will be in May. You can donate here http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/beauty-in-haiti–6. Thank you for your support!

Photo by Paula Allen, Ofeda.com

After that was Kansas to teach at the first ever Central Soapers Workshop. This was an awesome conference! Then I went to New York to teach with Holly Port and Marla Bosworth for Soap University. So much fun! I’ll be writing about some of these trips later…but for now I want to share a few things.

I’ll be teaching silicone mold making at the HSMG Conference this year in Raleigh. Originally I was going to teach simple single cavity molds but I think most people really want to learn how to make the log or block molds. So I’ve added that to my presentation.

Here are some pictures from the progress with that. Come to the conference to find out more! I’ll also be having a class in Dallas and a class in Austin on how to make these types of molds along with the single cavity molds.

To break it in, I made a big batch of our household staple, tea tree soap.

Tea Tree Soap

Coconut oil – 42 oz
Shea butter – 10 oz
Apricot kernel – 10 oz
Avocado oil – 10 oz
Castor oil – 8 oz
Olive oil – 40 oz
Rice bran – 10 oz

Lye – 18.3 oz
Water – 36 oz

Tea tree essential oil – 4 oz

Make the lye solution by adding the lye to the water. Set this to the side to cool down.

Weigh out the coconut oil and shea butter and melt.

Weigh out the liquid oils and add to the melted oils.

Add 4 oz of tea tree essential oil. Mike did a drive by scenting and added a splash of orange essential oil to the mix.

Pour the lye into the oils and bring to trace.

Pour into your mold.

Let sit overnight. I’ll add unmolding and cut pictures later.

Updated: Unmolding and cut pictures.

Happy Soaping!
Amanda

Beauty in Haiti

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Amanda

Thank you WFAA for doing a story on our Beauty in Haiti project! Please visit the Beauty in Haiti website for more information!

Link to WFAA Story!

Beauty in Haiti

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Amanda

In January, Marla Bosworth and I are traveling to Haiti! We will be teaching a group of 24 women over two days how to make soap and other beauty products including natural hair care! Their goal is to start a business to help raise funds to support themselves and their community.

Who We’re Helping

There is a group of women in Haiti, near Port Au Prince, located in a government-owned tent camp whose lives were torn apart in January 2010 after the country’s disastrous earthquake. These women are known as OFEDA (Organisation des Femmes Devouees en Action). They are a unique and independent women’s group founded after Haiti’s disastrous earthquake.

The women, who range in age from 18 to 82 years old, came together for the first time in January 2010 soon after the earthquake. They began meeting under a tree in the tent camp to support and encourage each other with hope and possibility.

These women have a dream, and we want to help them achieve it. By starting businesses together (their first being a handmade greeting card company), they hope to find a way out of the tent camps to reclaim their lives and to continue moving forward with dignity and security.

We need your help so that we can teach the OFEDA women how to make handmade soaps and natural haircare products to sell through a series of hands-on workshops in January 2013.

Please visit our campaign page!

Thank you for your support!

-Amanda